The accumulation of water, and sometimes water pressure, along a foundation wall and/or under a concrete slab of a building can generate major problems to the building structure, without accounting for discomforts the building resident has to deal with. Water along a foundation wall and/or under a concrete slab, usually considered as the basement of the building, causes a high level (higher than normal comfortable level) of moisture, which might eventually dampen/damage sections of the walls and/or floor finishing. Other problems may occur on the concrete foundation itself. All these problems are even more present when there is a positive pressure along the wall and/or under the slab.
Such water can be stagnant and remain along the wall and/or under the slab for extensive periods of time, if not permanently, depending on the soil type. Since there is no real access along the wall and/or under the slab, there is no efficient way to get rid of the above-mentioned problems associated with the presence of water or moisture, other than digging along the wall and/or breaking the slab to access the water drenched soil. Alternatively, some have tried to drain such water by reaching the area from underneath the footing, but this could induce local displacement (collapsing, falling) of the footing, which will generate even more problematic situations to the structure of the building.
Humidity can also reach the concrete slab from the interface between the foundation walls and the footing supporting the walls, with the concrete of the foundation walls not fully adhering to the footing, thereby leaving some interstices for water to reach the slab. Furthermore, since the concrete is known to be porous, it is further easy for water often accumulating at the outer periphery of the footing to slowly flow along the unsealed interface and reach the slab sitting on the inner periphery of the footing.
Commonly, particles are placed especially along the foundation walls to provide adequate drainage, which is a time consuming operation since this must be performed in stages (i.e. by sections of 1 or 2 foot at a time, pouring particles, adjusting a landscape fabric membrane, filling the space between the landscape fabric membrane and the soil, and repeating the process) from the base of the foundation wall up towards the surface. This process is very labor intensive, requires specialized equipment for long durations of time and consequently is very expensive.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved device and method for keeping humidity away from a foundation wall and/or under a main concrete slab and provide insulation.